The Backyard - Joe's Almanac

Monday, July 27, 2026

The Tiger Lilies Are In Bloom

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Dale and I were talking about this year's tiger lilies and both of us think this is the best they've looked in a few years.

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Our Return Home

Thursday, July 16, 2026

We were gone for about a week and a half. Here's what the yard looks like.

I admit it's a little overgrown in spots but it's not as bad as I anticipated.

The annuals did really well despite the heat we had. Dale said we got a pretty good amount of rain while we were gone. That helped.

Monday, June 29, 2026

Full Strawberry Moon

Monday, June 29, 2026

AI pulled up the following info on the full Strawberry Moon:

The June 2026 full moon, known as the Strawberry Moon, peaks in illumination on Monday, June 29, at 7:56 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT). It appears as the first full moon of summer and will hang notably low in the southern sky.

Name: Historically named the "Strawberry Moon" by Algonquin tribes to mark the peak of the wild strawberry harvest. Despite the name, it appears a standard bright white or golden-orange (due to atmospheric scatter near the horizon) rather than pink.

Position: It traces the year's lowest arc across the sky, as it sits opposite the Sun just after the summer solstice.

Very hot and sticky today. Dale looked up the dewpoint. It was 78. The highest I remember was 82. That was the record for the highest dew point temperature ever recorded in Minneapolis (Twin Cities) is 82°F, which was observed at 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM on July 19, 2011, at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Gross. Very swampy today. Took a walk this evening - sun behind the clouds, still hot but not as bad as earlier today and there was a nice breeze.

Sunday Afternoon Cigar

Sunday, June 28, 2026

This is supposed to be the last nice day before we're blasted with heat and humidity starting tomorrow and lasting for most of the rest of the week.

Great day for a cigar.

Here's me posing in front of the rhubarb. In all the years we have been in this house I haven't done a good job of utilizing the rhubarb we've got growing by the garage.

It's been years since my former collegue, Carol M., gave me the recipe for her rhubarb crisp. I've probably made it 3 or 4 times over the years. I haven't made it much due to my never getting serious about making it until it's a little to late in the season. I've heard it starts getting kind of reedy after the 4th of July but I'm never sure if that's really accurate. Another reason that's kept me from making it is all those summers Dale was up on Madeleine Island. The recipe makes a lot and it's too much for me and even some guest to handle without having to waste some of it.

Anyway, I'm hoping to actually make it this year. Maybe for the 4th of July.

Dale set out this bowl this morning to measure the rain. It absolutely poured around 10 am today. It's hard to tell but the bowl is actually pretty full. You can see it more on the left side near the rim.

Was surprised to see the sun out this afternoon. Wasn't expecting that.

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

The Yard Today

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Stopped by Bachman's yesterday to pick up some more annuals.

Added an impatien and the purple leafy thing to this planter. The pansies I planted earlier are really filling out.

Picked up a plant of rosemary.

The petunias I bought earlier this season are really filling out. There are snapdragons hiding in there. They can grow quite tall and I'm surprised they haven't done so yet.

The ferns continue to do well although they can start to falter once you get into July if you don't keep 'em watered. We've gotten enough rain this season that we've only had to water the gardens 2 or 3 times.